22nd Day of Christmas
by kuragari nikkou
Summary: Part of my Days of Christmas project. Riku Replica is lost in his thoughts and in the place he was sent to after his death. He ends up finding something he didn't expect. Warnings: Short story is short. What a surprise.


All characters © their respective owners

-YOUBETTERNOTSHOUT.

Ryuu: On the twenty-second day of Christmas my true love wrote for me.

Warnings: Short story is short. What a surprise.

-YOUBETTERNOTDIE.

So…this was where Riku's heart would go when he'd die? This seemingly endless dark place? He didn't know what Riku did in his past to deserve a special reservation in this hollow place. Then again, he didn't really have any of his own memories either.

All he had was this little star-shaped yellow piece of plastic with beads attached to it. The thing that Naminé had given him, or was that supposed to be a lie?

_Your memories were fake. She made them up. You were so insignificant to her that she gave you the same memories she fabricated for Sora._

He didn't care that the memories were fake. Right? He just wanted to be his own person. He didn't want to be just a replica of that boy. Why didn't he stay with Naminé if he had loved her despite the fact that all he knew about her was a lie?

_She broke you once. She never loved you. Instead, she tried so desperately not to cry when Sora chose to regain his real memories. Because who would want fake memories over real ones?_

He would. Fake memories were still memories, and fake memories were all that he had. In a dark place like this, wasn't it better to have some kind of light? Even if it was tiny and dim and so laughably one-sided… He clutched the charm in his hand and continued walking.

There wasn't much else he could do here. It was so empty. He wondered if the real Riku ever felt lonely like this, nothing but the darkness surrounding him for comfort. He didn't mind it so much because he wasn't afraid of the dark like the real Riku was. He just wished the place was a little more exciting.

_Liar. You wish that Naminé was here. You wish that she had cared for you the way she seemed to care for Sora._

Who could hate Sora? The boy was too nice for his own good. The blonde Nobody girl was easily swept away in his blinding devotion to protecting her even after she had replaced that oh so special girl in his memories. Kairi. He didn't know why that name sounded so familiar to him. She must not have been too special if Sora had so easily forgotten her, though.

_Just like you weren't special to Naminé._

He wondered if the real Riku had an annoying voice that nagged him all the time. Must have been nice to have friends to distract you from it.

_But you're just a toy. A puppet. An experiment. Nothing more than that._

That didn't mean he didn't have a heart. A fake heart beats too. He was something more than this. He just needed to figure it ou-!

"Ow!" Riku Replica yelled as he tripped over something. He got up, and looked at the object he had tripped over. While his first instinct was to destroy whatever it was, he was curious to see what this place had seemingly produced. Other than his sword, clothes, and Naminé's charm, there were no other objects here.

It was a small triangular tree in a small pot. It had tipped over when he fell, so he placed it upright again. The tiny tree had been decorated with small brightly colored spheres and little striped canes. But it still felt like it was missing something…

"What is this thing doing here?" He wondered. The tiny decorated tree didn't move, still missing something. He pulled out Naminé's charm and reluctantly placed the star on top of the tree. It was all he had besides his clothes and sword, but he still had his fake memories, so it wasn't like he needed the star anymore.

A light flashed, momentarily blinding him. He shielded his eyes with his arms until it had faded. He then saw that there was a door underneath the tree. Carefully, he moved the small tree off of the wooden semi ellipse shaped door. He didn't have a key, but he decided to grab the knob anyway.

The door was open.

He pushed through, and let himself drop down into the gateway of light. When he reached the end, he landed in a place that was blanketed with snow.

"Beats the other place." He thought out loud. There was a cheering sound north of where he was, so he headed in that direction. "Time to make some real memories."

-BECAUSESUICIDEISAGAINST THELAWTHAT'SWHY.

Ryuu: I hope Riku Replica will make an appearance in later games because I won't accept his death as closure for this puppet that no one seemed to love. People are always coming back in Kingdom Hearts. Look at Axel - I'm sorry, _Lea_ - and Aerith and Zack. Why not Riku Replica? Prove that Chain of Memories had a point in Kingdom Hearts' complicated storyline.

Holiday moral: Oh, look. There's a light at the end of this dark path.


End file.
